They carefully examined the Scriptures May 12, 2016

If I remember a fraction of what we have heard the last few days, I will be amazed. We continued our History lesson today right as we got into the van. Today was centered around gaining some back ground on King Philip and his son Alexander the Great. This was a precursor to visiting his grave site later in the day.

Our first stop was Berea. We read of Paul and Silas’ visit here in Acts 17:10ff. Acts 17:11 says, “Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.” Our guide reminded us of how important this same type of practice is for us today. Don’t just take the pastor’s word for it, make sure that what he/she says is according to the Word. This is always a good thing to be reminded of. I often ask the question while preparing a lesson/sermon, “Is this my opinion or is this what God’s word says”. Our good friend Bob Jones (who has been promoted to Glory) use to always say to me; Bill, preach the Word in season and out of season. Be faithful to God’s word”. I will always be thankful to him and others that have challenged me in my study and presentation. I am thankful for the Berean like qualities of Milwaukie Covenant and how they receive the message with eagerness and study the Scriptures. Keep it up!

From there we headed to Thessaloniki. We visited the tomb of King Philip II. This tomb also included others from his family and many relics. The tour through the site was fascinating. It was located under a built up dome of earth. Several articles were displayed behind security class because they included gold, silver and bronze. One item that stood out for me was a gold diadem (a type of crown) that was placed in Philip’s wife’s tomb. The diadem was given to the winner of a competition. Apparently, this particular item is one of the best ever recovered. It was impressive even as old as it was (3rd century b.c.) As I was looking at it, I was reminded of the lines to an old hymn of the church, “bring forth the royal diadem and crown him Lord of all….” This person must have been something special to receive all these articles in her tomb. Just think of another tomb, one not filled with articles of grandeur, but one with promise, hope, love, grace, mercy, peace. Oh, and did I say, when they found this one it was EMPTY.